Everything's rosy for blooming Bloomberg

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Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg rides the subway
to City Hall.Photo: AFP

Last week, a woman in Brooklyn had a housing problem. Instead of
ringing the city government's number  311  she looked
up the phone book, found the entry for Bloomberg, M and rang the
mayor.

The billionaire mayor of New York answered the phone next to his
bed. "The young lady went on about how her mother had lived there,
and the mother is deceased, and now she wanted to have the house,"
Michael Bloomberg told a press conference.

"I couldn't quite figure out what the woman's problem was, but I
said: 'Call me in the morning; here's the number'."

The fact that a billionaire mayor of one of the world's largest
cities has a listed phone number is a slight surprise, but it
brought the sort of publicity even Mr Bloomberg couldn't buy. His
only problem is that since the fact appeared in The New York
Times, the phone has been ringing rather more regularly.

The one group that doesn't have his number is the Democrats. A
new poll shows Mr Bloomberg leading all his possible rivals for the
mayoral election later this year. His opinion poll approval ratings
have hit 60 per cent, and he is at least

15 per cent ahead of any of his possible Democrat challengers
for the election. In fact, Mr Bloomberg, a Republican, is rating
ahead of all but one of his Democrat challengers among Democrat
voters.

"At this rate, New York City Republicans could stay home on
election day. The Mayor could win this one with Democrats and
independent voters," said Maurice Carroll, director of the
Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

While his Democrat rivals have been caught up in racial issues,
Mr Bloomberg seems to have benefited by his one setback  New
York losing the 2012 Olympic bid.

The bid involved building an unpopular stadium on the west side
of Manhattan. Since that plan fell apart, taking the bid with it,
his poll numbers have risen as people breathed a sign of relief at
not having to deal with the construction and disruption that the
Olympics could have brought.

Mr Bloomberg's nearest rival, Fernando Ferrer offended black
voters by telling a police union meeting that a 1999 shooting of an
unarmed African immigrant was "not a crime". The second-ranked
Democrat, Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields has been hurt
by being caught doctoring a campaign photograph to make her
supporters appear more multi-ethnic than the original picture.

Mr Bloomberg also leads every Democrat in what is the most
important factor in American politics  money. So far, he has
spent $US23 million, while his nearest rival, Mr Ferrer, has raised
$3.8 million, and has qualified for $1.5 million in public matching
funds. Mr Bloomberg has an enormous advantage over his rivals
because he doesn't have to raise money, as he can finance his own
campaign. The $23 million is three times more than he spent at the
same stage in his first election in 2001, when he broke all records
by spending $74 million.